About John Kuvinka
Welcome to my official website. Here you will find details about my background, my interests, and some samples of creative work that I’ve done over the years. The purpose of my site is to provide a bit more information about me than you’d likely find on my resume. On the menus there are links to some of my artist profiles, so feel free to follow me there as well.
So far as my personal life goes I’d like to think that I’m fairly straightforward. I tend to gravitate toward the simple things and keeping it mellow, so to speak. To unwind at the end of the day I normally find myself relaxing with my wife, listening to music and/or watching a movie or two. Music has been a big part of my life, and I’ll get into that more below. I enjoy a handful of film genres, but horror is probably my favorite. My wife and I subscribe to many streaming services and we try to get the most out of them all. My film and series preferences are listed in more detail a bit farther down this page under Likes Lists.
Some other things I enjoy are gastronomy, cigars, and mixology. In another life I may have been a bartender and I have an affinity for bourbon and Scotch. I’ve been on different regimens of diet and exercise over the years and some tenets of each have stuck with me. Despite being a huge fan of food I try to still be conscious of what I consume. I love being in nature, walking or boating, but definitely don’t spend as much time on the lake as I should. In addition to those pastimes, two interests of mine that have been among the most important throughout my life are music and writing.
Music
I became passionate about music at a young age and was taught to truly appreciate the art by my father. Having played the trumpet for nearly his entire life, he studied composition and arranging at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Prior to that he played in The United States Army Band and later he went on to perform in many different jazz and rhythm & blues ensembles as well. Growing up I mainly heard jazz, oldies, and classical, all of which are still in my listening rotation today. I do enjoy other genres from time to time, and you can find more detail on them along with the artists I like below under Likes Lists.
I started playing a Lowrey organ around age five. By my teenage years I was taking private piano lessons and studying composition. I then began writing music and later designed and published two albums featuring my own original works for piano. During this time I also studied orchestral conducting, reading texts on the subject from Oxford and Cambridge and dissecting audio and video recordings of my favorite conductors. In spite of my focuses having shifted over time, being the music director of a symphony orchestra would still be my dream profession. Most recently I’ve gotten into making music digitally, tinkering with a symphony in addition to some electronic and dark ambient pieces. You can find links to my music farther down this page.
Writing
I began writing at a young age as well. I won a few modest awards in school writing competitions as a child and my focus was usually fiction. When I was in middle school I began writing more for fun and mostly focused on politics and current events. I ended up with a reputation of having the ability to “rant” about any topic and make it entertaining. It all culminated in my personal blog which used to be far more expansive. I’ve since cut down on topics like politics and social critiques, as they often stir up too much drama. Now I’ll write a blog post now and then and I’ve been pecking at a novel for a number of years. You can find some of my blog posts below.
Insofar as my novel is concerned, a lot of it is still up for revision. Most simply put, it’s a period drama and love story. The characters’ storylines all feature requited and unrequited love, war, and eventually tragedy. It may not sound surprising, but it all started out as an idea for an opera. However, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of writing a libretto and that much music, so it became a simple outline. Over the years the outline has been revised and a lot of details have been filled in. Now it’s pretty much solid and the first draft is underway. If and when I ever publish it I’ll go the route of an inexpensive e-book and see where that takes me.
